The invention concerns structural kit for a glass facade of a building, with supporting profiles capable of being mounted on the outer surface of the building to form a facade substructure and with glass panes forming the outer surface of the facade and equipped with retaining rails adhesively bonded at least to their two vertical edges on the inside and capable of interlocking with the support profiles, with the edges of the glass panes being beveled outward and interlocking anchoring elements being inserted in the joints between two adjacent glass panes, said anchoring elements gripping the beveled edges of the glass panes and being connected positively and releasably with the supporting profile.
Glass facades are generally being used increasingly both in new construction and in the renovation of older buildings. Primarily office buildings are being increasingly constructed with glass facades.
The glass facade may form the stressed skin of the building directly. In this case the substructure of the facade consisting of the support profiles is mounted on the outside of a load bearing building skeleton of steel profiles or reinforced concrete. If the glass facade is in the form of a thermal facade, insulating glass panes are customarily used.
To lockingly secure the glass panes, the retaining profiles joined to the substructure grip the panes around their edges. These retaining profiles therefore form a frame projecting beyond the outer surfaces of the glass panes, which, however, render the cleaning of the glass panes difficult and are less desirable for aesthetic reasons, as they divide the glass facade optically too extensively into a grid of individual glass panes.
In order to obtain a smooth outer surface of the facade desirable for aesthetic reasons and facilitating cleaning, from which no parts are projecting, it is known in the case of a glass facade originating in a structural kit of the aforementioned generic type (DOW CORNING), to mount the glass panes exclusively by means of the adhesively bonded retaining rails suspended from the facade substructure. The glass facade is thereby given an extensively smooth outer surface slightly held only by the joints between adjacent glass panes. However, for safety reasons, building authorities have not generally permitted such glass facades to date without positive locking. The objections essentially are due to the fact that no adequately secured information is available at this time relative to the behavior of the adhesive bond after extensive exposure in time to intensive environmental effects and solar radiation.
In certain cases such glass facades were permitted, but with the condition that an adequately large area be provided at the foot of the glass facade with no access by persons. In other cases, additional locking elements were specified, consisting of anchoring structural elements loosely gripping the edges of the glass panes in certain locations and joined to the substructure of the facade. However, these structural elements project from the outer surface of the facade and therefore interfere with the cleaning process and are aesthetically undesirable.
It is therefore the object of the invention to provide a structural kit for a glass facade of the aforementioned generic type, whereby a high strength, easily mounted and disassembled locking of the glass panels is assured.
This object is attained according to the invention by that the edges of the glass panes are beveled to the outside and an anchoring body positively securing the glass panes is inserted into the joints formed between adjacent glass panes, said anchoring body gripping the beveled edges of the glass panes and being positively and releasably interlocked with the support profile.
Additional joint profiles are preferably inserted between the anchoring crosses. In this manner, all of the joints formed between the glass panes are covered, so that an essentially tight glass facade is formed. This effect may be further reinforced by providing the arms of the anchoring crosses and the joint profiles on their lateral beveled edges in contact with the two edges of the glass panes with sealing strips. This elastic sealing strip is further intended to take up thermal expansions of the glass panes without stress. The glass facade according to the invention is suitable to form both a thermal and a cold facade. A glass facade as a cold facade is suspended at a distance from a building facade with windows and forms a supplemental thermal and acoustic insulation. In this form of embodiment suspended cold facade is particularly suitable for subsequent mounting on existing buildings, the existing facade of which remains essentially unchanged. The insulation obtained between the window panes prevents the loss of heat and in particular the penetration of dirt, rain water and snow.
In order to make possible the alignment of the glass pane suspension with simple means, in a further development of the invention each of the vertical retaining rails has on its side facing away from the glass pane at least one hooking element that may be suspended from a supporting part mounted in a height adjustable manner on the support panel.
This height adjustable mounting of the support part makes it possible to equalize deviations of the facade substructure due to manufacturing tolerances and mounting inaccuracies, so that the glass pane may be installed at the predetermined height and in an exactly vertical position on the facade substructure. As the supporting part is accessible from the outside as long as the glass pane is not in place, the supporting parts may be adjusted for example by means of a gage from the outside prior to the mounting of the pane. However, it is also possible to mount the pane, determine its deviation from the correct position, then remove the pane and adjust the supporting part to equalize the deviation of the glass pane determined.
The projecting suspension element preferably is in the form of a hook. The structural supporting part may according to a preferred embodiment of the invention be a vertical support plate placed parallel to the glass pane, that may be screwed onto the support profile. The hook of the suspending element then grips the upper edge of the support plate in a simple manner.
In an especially advantageous form of embodiment the support plate has at its two lateral edges which may be fastened to the support profile, an elongated vertical hole and a bore for a pin above each other. The support plate may be initially screwed onto the support profile through the two elongated holes. Subsequently, its position is gaged or the glass pane is hook on and its positional deviation determined. The screws of the support plate are then loosened, optionally after removing the glass pane, and the support plate displaced in the elongated holes until the height adjustment desired is obtained. After this, the support plate--possibly following the insertion and repeated removal of the glass pane for inspection--is fastened by the insertion of pins to the support profile, whereby the final, immobile height adjustment of the support plate is completed.